Four months of suspended prison sentence required against student who had launched a "call to purge"

"It's not about humor anymore, nor about doing buzz but we have created the real risk of a skid. On Wednesday night, the prosecution requested a four-month suspended prison sentence against student Aissa Benchelef
19-year-old from Grenoble, who had
launched several "calls to purge" on social networks for
Halloween night. The decision was taken under advisement on Monday, December 10th.

At the bar, the young man with curly hair, adopts a contrite attitude. In clear language, he explains that he has not mastered the situation. "My mother pulled my ears for several days, telling me that it was not the education I had received." Yes, he sought to "do the buzz To "win more subscribers" on
Snapchat and
Twitter. "But all that was a bad joke," insists the student, holder of a tray ES and whose criminal record is virgin. And to recall that on October 29, he published "a kind of denial" to calm the spirits before going himself to the police station.

A student in "quest for media glory"

"You made a show of contrition, but you filmed yourself on the way to the police station, like a star. What is the logic? "Asks the president of the Criminal Court, portraying a boy" in search of media glory. " "None, it was completely stupid," he concedes. I thought of addressing people who had the same references as me without thinking that it would go so far.

The references ? Movies American Nightmare in which the director James DeMonaco evokes a period of twelve consecutive hours, during which any criminal activity is allowed. The idea, he explains, came from a Halloween night where he wore the mask of the film. "I was the center of attention. I was told it was too realistic. He then "copy" and post the "rules enacted" in the feature films: "punish the police by shooting at them", "attack all the structures of the State".

"Can we laugh at everything? "

But the joke has damned the public prosecutor's office. "Can we laugh at everything? It depends on the people with whom we are, "says the prosecutor, referring to the often tense situation in the suburbs of Grenoble. "On social networks, we do not know our interlocutors. And when we have no filter and your words are not moderable, yes, we fall under the influence of abuse. You should have been aware of the risk, because your remarks incited anyone to commit offenses, "he recalls. "You could have posted a picture of your mask to contextualize your message, you did not do it. So those who do not have the keys to reading, what will they understand? He insists, referring to "faulty negligence".

But for Ronald Gallo, the student's lawyer, everything is a matter of politics. "Who is hiding behind the public prosecutor's office if not Christophe Castaner," he said, recalling that the police did not lodge a civil suit in the case. "They understood who they had been dealing with". And to conclude: "Yes, my client has undoubtedly sought to flatter his narcissism but not to provoke violence".